art, music & travel.
I hopped around a few museums yesterday and stopped by the MET to check out ‘The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion’ exhibit.
I liked the visual chronological history of fashion and it’s models. I personally payed more attention to the photography and its progression, but there was a bit of everything in this exhibit. If fashion is your life, this will be a nice little walk through. The exhibit will be up until August 9th.
Paul Cezanne’s The Card Players
Paul Cezanne has always been one of my main influences in painting. He’s caught my eye since young. His style and technique are poetic and effortless… the rich brushwork, luscious color… I truly love his work.
NPR.org has done a little piece on him and the people he has influenced, which you should listen to.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art as an exhibit from 2/26 to 5/17 ’09. Click here for more info.
detail of a Cezanne still life
I’ve been to the MET a bunch…and today, I stumbled into a section I have NEVER seen before. How is that possible… maybe because I usually turn around after egyptian artifact overload…this time I kept walking and found myself at the American Wing. There was beautiful furniture, with a lot of american indian influence. Some was a bit gaudy, but pretty beautiful nonetheless.
I also paid a little more attention to some paintings that I’m sure have been there for longer than I’ve been around… And I found the one below to be extremely romantic… But maybe I’m just being ultra sappy… either way, it was a wonderful & surprising day at the MET.
by Jean-Leon Gerome
aaaah!!!!!! one of my favorites…William Eggleston is currently at the Whitney until Jan 25th. I love love lovvve his work… This exhibit includes 50 years of his photographs and videos from many of his road trips across America.
‘One of the most influential photographers of the last half-century, William Eggleston has defined the history of color photography. This exhibition is the artist’s first retrospective in the United States and includes both his color and black-and-white photographs as well as Stranded in Canton, the artist’s video work from the early 1970s. The exhibition will travel throughout the United States as well as to the Haus der Kunst in Munich following its New York presentation.”
Here’s a great article about William Eggleston from NYmag.com.
I’m back and in one piece! although I wouldn’t say the same about my knees. The Inca trail was a long, tough hike, but very much worth it. I only had a chance to go to the Archeological Larco Museum in Lima the last day we were there. And I took a few pics before my battery died… I also documented my trip and posted a few photos on flickr.
A 50kg solid gold statue of model Kate Moss, created by artist Marc Quinn, is unveiled at the British Museum.
ummmm….So this is the largest GOLD statue since the time of the Egyptians… I can see this being found 3000 years from now and teach our descendants about today’s civilization… But I just can’t help but to look directly at Kate Moss’s crotch… Whats with the extreme Yoga move? Couldn’t the artist Marc Quinn have found a more flattering pose? I do find the upper part of the sculpture, with her arms and legs intertwining to be beautiful… But I don’t know.. I don’t think I like it… 1.5 Million £’s to look directly at her you know what? …. thoughts?
click here to read an article about the sculpture on the BBC.
So here’s a question… how come at some exhibits there is ‘no’ photography allowed? most museums I have ever attended (domestic and international), photography is allowed, just no flash. But how come some specific exhibits can not be photographed? Is it security? certain insured work that can’t be documented?
For example, Just went to the DALI exhibit at the MoMA 2 weeks ago, and I wanted to document his details for you to see, but no. no cameras allowed… I can understand no flash. but nothing at all? how is an artist suppose to document a piece for inspiration. sure, buy books, but if you are struggling? Take books out from the library? sure, then why are other exhibits allowed to be documented and others not. The only reason why I ask, is ’cause I haven’t seen much consistency with this rule… can anyone enlighten me?
ps: Salvador Dali exhibit currently at the MoMA in NYC is a great collection of his paintings, drawings and film. don’t miss it.
Spent the day yesterday walking the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 81st and 5th Ave. Its been over 10 years since my last visit (god I feel old), and I forgot how HUGE that museum is. I tried to go through the whole thing, but it must be about a weeks worth of walking….So pretty much just walked around and stumbled into places and eras that seemed interesting.
Loved the Victorian rooms:
Saw plenty of sculptures and paintings. Saw my favorite painters and also took detail pictures of their brushwork. Painters such as Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cezanne really get me in the mood to paint. I love their colors, the richness of the paint, the brushwork and subject matters. I adore the tropical still-lifes and landscapes. They remind me of Venezuela and my godmother, who’s first oil paint lesson for me was a mango still-life on her backporch over-looking the Maracaibo Lake.
Detail of Van Gogh’s ‘Shoes’ 1888
Also swung by the SUPERHEROES exhibit, which was surprisingly small and overly hyped for what it is..as well as the Jeff Koons sculptures on the Rooftop garden. the view was great…the sculptures… meh. I did get a kick of the reflections.
I love the MET. one of my favorites. So much history and so much art. I need a free week to walk it all.
I had a chance to go to the MoMA exhibit ‘Design and the Elastic Mind’ this past weekend. The museum was packed with people so it was hard to really appreciate the work and take time to view things. I will need to return. But at a first glance, the work was super interesting and out there. Some of the concept pieces where beyond my imagination. Not so much out of this world or futuristic, more abstract and real than expected. I posted a bunch of photos I took, so feel free to check them out on my flickr page.
Cai Guo-Qiang “I want to believe” is showing until May 28th and I HIGHLY recommend it.
I have never seen the Guggenheim utilize its space such as this. Its beautiful, full of energy, and grand. I’ve never heard of this Chinese artist until last week and had heard a buzz about this show… ‘a must see’.., I didn’t really know what to expect except for what I had seen in this video, which is very impressive, so I had to check this out for myself… Continue reading “Cai Guo-Qiang at the Guggenheim”
MoMA.org has an online exhibit for artist Lucian Freud. You should see it at fullscreen for best results. You can zoom into the paintings and view the detail of the brush/pencil work. You can learn about Freud’s sitters and subject matter, techniques and background. This is a great idea and I think it should be done more often.
I went to the Whitney this past Saturday to view the Kara Walker exhibit, and also ended up viewing other exhibits as well. But I’ll only chat about hers right now. The show is titled “Kara Walker, My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love.”
Wasn’t sure what to expect, until my friend Ivan warned me before hand. Controversial. Thats the word I would use to describe Kara’s work. The content is a bit disturbing to say the least. And it will stir up your emotions. Supposedly she is not liked by many African Americans, even though she is herself black. And I can see why. She touches on social and political views on racism and slavery with blatant raw imagery and crass humor. She uses all mediums to convey her message; from cut out silhouettes to paper on canvas, drawings, ink, video, projections and collage. Her work also ranges from words on paper, to narrative video using her silhouettes. Here’s a quote from “Conversations with Contemporary Artists: Kara Walker“, a MoMA Online Project.
“I knew that if I was going to make work that had to deal with race issues, they were going to be full of contradictions. Because I always felt that it’s really a love affair that we’ve got going in this country, a love affair with the idea of it, with the notion of major conflict that needs to be overcome and maybe a fear of what happens when that thing is overcome. And, of course, the issues also translate into [the] very personal: Who am I beyond this skin I’m in?”
In my opinion, when something triggers raw emotions and thought, I believe its true art. This exhibit is definitely not suitable for everyone, but a must see.
note: click on the image above to view more images from my museum trip.